Kansas City Xtreme Wrestling starts its 2017 monthly series at the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Kansas City, Mo. on Sunday, January 8. The promotion will crown its first-ever singles title, to be known as the Kansas City Championship.

Eight exceptional pros have been invited to compete in the single-elimination tournament. Among them is our Missouri Heavyweight Champion Brandon Espinosa.

In this editor’s view, Espinosa is the favorite to take it all, but this is a pool of competitors with which he is mostly unfamiliar. Kyle King and “Smooth as Satin” David Cattin are two of KCXW’s best and nearly always win.

This tournament comes at a price for Espy; MWR’s title rules dictate that the strap is on the line every time the champion wrestles a singles bout in Missouri. Thus, to win the KCXW crown, he must risk his State prize up to three times in one night.